US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that India would be subject to a 25 per cent tariff, following the August 1 deadline.
This move precedes the sixth round of bilateral trade talks between the two nations, which was to take place in India, later on in August.
Trump also justified the tariff in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, in which he stated that although India was "our friend", it also levied tariffs that were, in his opinion, "far too high, among the highest in the World".
"They have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country," he added.
He also follows up on his earlier threat against nations procuring Russian exports—primarily India, China and Brazil—stating that India and China were the largest buyers of Russian energy. He also claimed that India had bought a vast majority of Moscow's military equipment.
Citing these reasons, Trump also announced an unspecified penalty on top of the 25 per cent tariff.
In a separate post, Trump reiterated that the US has a "massive trade deficit with India".
The imposition of a 25 per cent tariff rate on India—followed by an added penalty—comes a week after US Senator Lindsey Graham had warned countries purchasing Russian exports (especially oil), pointing out that these purchases funded Russian President Vladimir Putin's "war machine".
At the time, Senator Graham had warned of 100 per cent tariffs on Russia and nations purchasing exports from it: a threat that was echoed by NATO chief Mark Rutte.
India-US trade talks
The tariff imposition will now be a part of India's agenda for the sixth round of trade talks in August, for which a US delegation arrive in New Delhi.
Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal had stated on Saturday that the trade talks were “making fast progress”, with both sides looking to finalise the first tranche of the agreement by fall (September-October) as per a PTI report.
